Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Magic Of Winter Worlds

...starting with the Narnia of CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe,
of course. I think that moment when, together with Lucy Pevensie, I
stepped through the back of a wardrobe and into the snowy landscape of
Lantern Waste was definitely one of the most magical of my reading
childhood.

As an adult, Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness
provided a similar defining moment, with the physical world of Winter
(Gethen) absolutely dominating the cultural, sexual, and political
landscape of the story.

And then there’s Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale —
which is more like historical urban fantasy (meets the Gangs of New
York) and is rich, mythic, magic-realism imbued — and where winter
undoubtedly ‘colors’ the entire story.

More recently I’ve read Kate Elliott’sCold Magic (the first of
a “Cold’ trilogy) which also picks up the idea of an ice age realm
where the ice influences magic — but in a world where alternate history
means the Carthaginians fought the Romans to a standstill, retaining
their maritime empire, and North African (Mali) magicians have emigrated
(ahead of a ghoul/zombie horde) to hook up with Celtic druids. Fascinated already — you should be!

Joan Vingt’s “The Snow Queen” is another favourite and one where the prolonged winter
world of Tiamat, but also the imminent transition to an equally
prolonged summer, is essential to the story being told.

Picking up on extended winter/summer worlds again, “Winter is Coming” in George RR Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire”
series, even if it is not quite here yet — but the giant wall of ice
and the Night Watch definitely set the scene from book one, A Game of Thrones.

There are also distinctive winter elements to wider worlds, such as the Winter Country in my own “The Wall of Night” series, and the north of the Finnish witches and panzer bjorn in Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass.

The more I think about it, it seems fairly clear that winter worlds
hold an enduring fascination, so now I’m thinking about why that might
be… In part, I suspect it is because winter landscapes and worlds are so
dramatic, stark and elemental. Physically, they challenge us — and the
white on white of snow worlds is also a very strong aesthetic.